Means for the regulation or control of railway and like traffic.



H. VON KRAMER. 'mmus FOR THE REGULATION 0B. CONTROL OF RAILWAY AND LIKETRAFFIC.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5, 1913.

Patented Apr. 21, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

INVENTOR HA vo'N KRAMER fiY Hus ATTORNEY H. VON KRAMER. MEANS FOR THEREGULATION 0R CONTROL OF RAILWAY AND LIKE TRAFFIC.

APILIGATION I'ILBD FEB. 6,1913. 1,094,407. Patented Apr. 21, 1914.

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lNvENToR R w M A Y R E KMN R ww v T Q W N s A I HHDH UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

HANS VON KRAMER, OF EDGBASTON, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.

MEANS FOR THE REGULATION OR CONTROL OF RAILWAY AND LIKE TRAFFIC.

Specification of Letters Patent Patented Apr, 21, 1914.

Application filed February 5, 1913. Serial No; 746,347.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HANS VON KRAMER, subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at Kramersruhe, VVheatsheafe Road, Edgbaston,Birmingham, in the county of \Varwick, England, have invented a new anduseful Means for the Regulation or Control of Railway and like Traflic;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same.

My invention comprises improvements in means for the regulation orcontrol of railway and like traffic and refers to that class ofapparatus or system wherein a line wire is laid parallel to the track incombination with an inductive frame carried by the vehicle, thesignaling communication or connection being inductively transmittedbetween the line wire and the frame.

Heretofore various arrangements have been proposed for warning theengine driver that he is approaching the signal, and inductive meanshave been proposed for this purpose comprising a line circuit laid inproximity to the signal so arranged that when the train passes throughthe inductive field a warning is conveyed to the engine driver toindicate the proximity of a signal, but in all such cases the warningwas dependent upon the presence of current in the line wire so that ifthe current failed in the line wire the warning .would not be given; andit is the object of my invention to provide a means whereby the warningis given by the absence of the induced current so that in the event offailure of the current the engine driver would be at once advised,

signal in elevation of a modified form of the invention.

In carrying my invention into practlce as illustrated upon theaccompanying draw ings at Figs. 1 and 2 the train (not illustrated)carries a wire frame 2 consisting of a considerable number of turns ofwire coiled around the engine and arranged to travel in proximity to awire 3 disposed parallel to the track, this wire 3 being above theground though it may be arranged in any other suitable manner. Such aline wire would extend throughout the track or for a length asillustrated in Fig. 1 corresponding with a signaling section asillustrated in Fig. 3, current being sent through the line wire by meansof an electrical generator indicated by 5 and located at a suitable linestation. f

The signals are indicated by 6 and immediately in front of each signalor point at which it is desired towarn the driver the line wire isdivided into two electrically parallel parts formed by the addition ofthe wire marked 7. It will be obvious that half the current will passthrough the wire 7 and half through the part marked 3 and both of thesewires 3 and 7 will induce current in the frame 2 of the vehicle, but asthe wire 3 is on the opposite side of the train to the wire 7 it willinduce the current into the opposite longitudinal'limb or side of theframe to that in which-the wire-7 is inducing current. Therefore currentwill be induced on both sides of the frame, the induced current seekingto travel in the same longitudinal direction, but as the frame on thevehicle is' endless the two induced currents will oppose and neutralizeeach other so that there is no resultant current induced in the frame.Thus it will be seen that when the train is passing over the greaterpart of the wire 3 current will be induced in the frame which isarranged to render the warning device onthe train inoperative,

but when the train is passing over the parts 3"* and 7 immediately infront of the signals the induced current will cease and the warningdevice will operate in manner hereinafter explained.

' The frame 2 controls a relay device and as illustrated the frame is incircuit with the coil wire 8 of a relay which is accord- ;ing to theprior Patent No. 1067823, dated July 22d, 1913, of Hans von Kramer andGisbert Kapp. When current passes through the wires 8 it causes the reed9 to vibrate which breaks a second circuit .between the contact springs10. In Fig. 2 the end of the reed only is shown, and the construction ofthe relay and disposition of the reed will be understood from referenceto theprior specification above referred to. These contact springs 10form partof a second circuit which include a battery 11 and solenoidswitch 12 being so arranged that the solenoid switch is raised to breaka third circuit at 13, 13, when the contacts 10,

but when the contacts 10 disengage the solenoid switch connects thecontacts 13, 13, and establishes a third circuit. The third circuitagain includes the battery 11 and in addition a second solenoid 14 whichnormally raises a lever 15 which controls a warning device indicated by16 in such manher that when the lever is raised the warning device isinoperative. When the solenoid 14 is deenergized the lever falls andactuates the warningdevice which may be either audible, optical ormechanical and may be arranged to either simply warn the driver that heis approaching the signal or danger point, or it might be arranged undercertain circumstances to entirely stop the train. It will be seen fromthis explanation that'when there is no induced current in the frame 2the reed 9 will immediately come to rest, allowing the contacts 10 toengage when the second circuit is completed and the solenoid switch 12operated to disengage the contacts 13, 13 which deenergizes the solenoid14 to operate the warning device.

In the modified form of the invention shown by Fig. 3 in front of eachof the signals 3 are three supplemental wires 7 arranged to give amomentary warning to the driver as by ringing a bell three timesindicating to him that he is approaching the signal. Adjacent to thesignal the line wire is so arranged that if the signal is up i. e. inthe blocked position as employed in Great Britain the line wire will benon inductive at this place, the non-inductive part being of asuflieient length to stop a train when approaching the signal, whilewhen the signal is in the clear position the wire at this point isinductive in exactly the same way as the main length of wire. The signal17 is adapted to engage with and electrically connect fixed contacts 18,19, when the signal is in the horizontal or blocked position and toengage with and electrically connect contacts 20, 21 when the signal isin the clear position. The main wire 3 is connected to a terminal 22which ,is also connected to a wire 3 and also being connected to asupplemental wire 7*, the wires 3 and 7 being connected together at 23and thence by a wire 24 to the contact 19 which is connected to acontact 18 by a bridge plate 17 a on the signal, the contact 18 beingconnected to the contact 21 which is connected to the wire 3 through themedium of the wire 25 and terminal 26. Thus when the signal isin theblocked position the wire will be non-inductive in similar manner to theparts 3 and 7 previously described, this part being however of asuflicient length to entirely stop the train it attempting to run overthis portion of the line when the signal is in the blocked position.When the signal is in the clear position the connection between contacts18 and 19 is broken and the wires 3 and 7 being connected to the openterminal 19 by wire 24: no current will pass through, while the contacts20 and 21 are completed. The terminal 22 is connected to the contact 20by the wires 27 and 27 the latter being at a distance from the track,while the contact 21 is as previously stated connected to the terminal26 by the wire 25. Thus when the signal is in the clear position thepart of the wire 27 will be capable of inducing current in the frame inexactly the same way as is the main wire 3. The arrangement of thesignals as illustrated according to the British practice, '5. e. thesignal arm being dropped to indicate that the line is clear, it will beobvious that it might be applied to signals which work in the reversemanner in which case the circuits will be oppositely arranged so thatthe line is non-inductive when the signal is lowered.

In the various views the rails are indicated by dotted lines, while asshown in Fig. 3 the out and return portions of the line wire may bemutually crossed at intervals to render the circuit non-inductive tooutside disturbing influences.

The parts of the line wire may be made more inductive by any suitablemeans such as that illustrated and previously described.

The invention might also be applied to warning the driver whenapproaching a curve or dangerous part of the track such as levelcrossing, gates or barriers, in which case the position of the gatesmight control the circuits in similar manner to the signal as previouslydescribed, the gates or barriers constituting the indicator instead ofthe signal arm and carrying contacts arranged in the same way.

It will be obvious from the explanations given that in the event offailure of the current the whole of the system would becomenon-inductive so that the effect of an electrical break down would onlybe to stop the trains, there being no risk of accidents as in the formsof inductive signaling wherein the transmission of the signal dependsupon the presence of the induction.

What I claim then is 1. In apparatus for the regulation or control ofrailway and like trafiic, the combination of a line wire laid parallelto the track of the vehicle; means for continuously passing periodicelectric current through said line wire; a wire frame carried by thevehicle in inductive relation with the line wire; a signal receivingdevice carried by the vehicle inoperative while current is induced intothe frame from the line wire but operative when the induced currentceases; and means for rendering certain parts of the line wirenon-inductive to the frame, without interrupting the current passing inthe line wire so that'the non-inductive parts will operate to conveysignals while when the vehicle is passing over the non-inductive lengthsthe signal receiv- 5 ingdevice will be inoperative.

2. In apparatus for the re ulation or control of railway and like tra c,the combination of a line wire laid parallel to the track of thevehicle; means for continuously passing periodic electric currentthrough said line wire; a wire frame carried by the vehicle in inductiverelation with the line wire; a signal receiving device carried by thevehicle inoperative while current is induced into the frame from theline wire but operative when the induced current ceases; a supplementalwire laid parallel to the line wire at certain portions, saidsupplemental wire bein in inductive relation with the opposite limb ofthe frame to that which the main line wire is in inductive relation withand whereby the currents induced in the frame by the two parallel partsof the line wire are caused to neutralize each other.

3. In apparatus for the regulation or control of railway and liketraffic, the combinaoperative when the induced current ceases;

an indicator controlled by the signal receiv- 1 ing device; and meanscontrolled bythe position of said indicator whereby when the indicatoris in the blocked position a portion of the line wire is renderednon-inductive to the frame without interrupting the passage of thecurrent. in the main length of the line wire while when the indicator isin the clear position the said portions are made inductive to the frame.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses. v

H. VON KRAMER.

Witnesses:

Hmonn F. G. FORRESTER, NORMAN S. BARLOW.

